Music and the arts have always played an important role in the worship services of the ELCA, which has reflected Martin Luther’s appreciation of the arts. In most churches, the entire liturgy is sung. Musical styles range from plainsong and the rich tradition of Lutheran chorales to varieties of contemporary folk music. Considerable thought has also been given to the shape of the worship space and to the use of the visual arts.
Music
The Lutheran tradition assigns a very high place to the role of music in worship. Martin Luther wrote that “next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise” (Luther’s Works, vol. 53: Liturgy and Hymns [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965], 323; referred to as LW 53 below). He fostered congregational participation in worship by encouraging hymn singing. This required hymns and Luther led the way by writing thirty-six hymns of his own. Choirs were retained in Lutheran churches to provide leadership in singing and, especially in Latin services, to sing polyphonic settings of psalms and canticles. Sometimes choir and congregation alternated in singing the stanzas of hymns and the verses of psalms and canticles. Organs were used to provide intonations and introductions which developed into chorale preludes. Hymns, art music, and organ literature all flourished in the Lutheran churches. This can be contrasted with the Reformed tradition, in which choirs and organs were initially abolished and congregational singing was limited to metrical psalms, and with the Roman Catholic tradition, in which choirs and organs were used but congregational singing was limited.
Lutheran services were and continue to be typically sung throughout by ministers, choirs, and the people. Luther himself provided detailed directions for chanting the Scripture readings, the collects, and the words of institution in his German Mass (1526). He regarded singing as the inevitable eruption of the joyful song in the hearts of the redeemed. Music injects an ecstatic quality into worship, enabling the worshiper to move beyond oneself in praise and adoration of the Holy Trinity. Hymns also serve as excellent teaching devices; they make doctrines memorable because they are put in the memorizable form. In this way, music serves the Word of God. Music also serves an edifying purpose by building up the fellowship of the congregation, since group singing builds bonds between people. Finally, music serves as a bridge between the Christian cult and culture. Lutheran music simultaneously embraced the classical tradition of Gregorian chant, contemporary art music, and folk idioms. Luther himself encouraged the use of both the most sophisticated and the simplest forms of music to embrace the whole people of a society.
The North German Baroque period (1600–1750) constituted the high point of Lutheran church music. Poets allied themselves with reputable musicians, as in the partnership between Paul Gerhardt and Johann Cruger, to produce a remarkable corpus of hymnody. The greatest North German composers from Michael Praetorius through Heinrich Schütz to Johann Sebastian Bach provided choral and organ music for worship services. George Frideric Handel was also a Lutheran who composed significant religious music. But unlike Handel’s oratorios, the cantatas, passions, and chorale preludes of Bach were used in church services.
The time after Bach was characterized by liturgical deterioration which also included a decline in church music. This was because the best musicians found employment outside the church in the burgeoning concert halls and theaters. Liturgical recovery began in the mid-nineteenth century and also brought about a revival of church music in Germany and Scandinavia. In the twentieth-century composers such as Hugo Distler, Ernst Pepping, Hans Friedrich Michaelsen, Jan Bender, and Heinz Werner Zimmerman have led the way in composing church music which is musically respectable and liturgically satisfying. Their efforts have been emulated by capable Lutheran musicians in North America.
Lutheran musicians have been open to a wide range of musical styles, from plainsong to gospel music. Only Christian popular and rock music have found little acceptance in Lutheran congregations. Recent years have witnessed a recovery of psalm-singing using responsorial and antiphonal methods. Efforts have been made to emphasize the role of the choir in supporting and enriching congregational singing. New worship resources include settings of proper alleluia and offertory verses for the choir. In addition to the organ, wind instruments and guitars, brass and tympana, as well as handbells and synthesizers have found acceptance and have provided an additional opportunity to use the talents of the members of the congregation.
The Arts
Luther’s positive attitude toward church music is also seen in his attitude toward the arts of worship. Vestments could be “used in freedom, as long as people refrain from ostentation and pomp” (LW 53, 31). “We neither prohibit nor prescribe candles or incense. Let these things be free” (LW 53, 25). Altars could be retained, but they should be pulled away from the east walls so that the priest could preside facing the people “as Christ doubtlessly did in the Last Supper. But let that await its own time” (LW 53, 69).
One of the problems with architecture is its permanence. Buildings cannot easily be changed and this undoubtedly contributes to a fair amount of liturgical conservatism. When Lutherans constructed new buildings, these reflected the prevailing architectural styles of the times from the Baroque and neoclassical periods to the neogothic and contemporary American periods. Lutherans were in the vanguard of contemporary church architecture in the 1950s and 1960s.
Since the seventeenth century, Lutheran worship space brought into close juxtaposition the altar, pulpit, and font to emphasize the unity of Word and sacrament. Baroque churches were modeled on the theater or opera house so that people could hear and see. Contemporary church buildings reflect either neogothic design (e.g., the A-frame) or the theater-in-the-round (e.g., the centrum plan popularized by Edvard Sövik of Northfield, Minnesota). The latter reflects the corporate nature of the worshiping community but loses the former’s sense of transcendence.
Contemporary Lutheran church buildings are often characterized by simplicity of design that allows liturgical colors in paraments, vestments, and banners to dominate the environment. While Lutherans have not always retained historic vestments, the alb and stole have become almost universal apparel, and many pastors wear the chasuble for eucharistic celebrations. Banner-making has become common in many congregations as a way of involving people in liturgical art and as a way of advertising the significance of special times and occasions in the church year. Other liturgical art includes candles, crosses, or crucifixes (both stationary and processional), missal stands, chalices and patens, paschal candle stands, and vigil lights (signifying the abiding presence of Christ).
One art form that has been tried but not widely accepted is liturgical dance. Dancing in the worship space is hampered by spatial limitations, liturgical furniture, and also by the inability of the congregation to participate. But it has been used regularly and effectively at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York City under the direction of Carla DeSola. Chancel dramas and storytelling have been more popular, especially at Christmas and during Lent and Holy Week.